The Seated View

Discomfort. It’s a word often used in the medical world when referring to procedures or experiences that could involve pain. And it bugs me.   This latest rant began when I read an article about dental implants that referred to “post-surgery discomfort.” This discomfort was described as being akin to that which happens when you have an extraction. They give you Tylenol 3s for extractions — opioids. That’s not for discomfort. That’s to deal with pain and pretty high levels of it. Using the word discomfort has a sense of avoidance in it. It may relate more to the discomfort the speaker has with the pain of others than the actual experience of the person in pain. Or is it dismissal? Does this exist in the same place as the everspreading use of the term catastrophizing to describe someone’s intense worry about their pain or illness and the impact it may have on their life? I had an invigorating conversation on Twitter about the discomfort versus pain conundrum. Leslie

Last Friday, I was at the official opening of the revitalized Queen’s Quay . But I get ahead of myself. Look for the guy in the green t-shirt, they said... Four years ago, I posted about accessibility barriers in the path to the beach. Subsequently my MPP, Glen Murray, a true champion of universal design, facilitated a tour of SugarBeach with staff from Waterfront Toronto . It was a great day, with lots of opportunity to talk about accessibility, barriers, and solutions. At the end, they committed to involving people with disabilities in the consultation process as they began the revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront. Joe Oliver, Minister of Finance delivers his speech   Six months later, I got a call. Would I be willing to serve on the Construction Liaison Committee (CLC) of the project? Being asked to put my money where my mouth was, of course I said yes. It’s been an amazing 3 and a half years. The monthly meetings of the CLC has taken us from t

I’m tired. Not the kind of tired that is solved by a nap or even a good night’s sleep. This is the kind of tired that has me starting to resemble one of the shambling undead. And it ’s not the flare. The flare is not as bad as it was, although still there, and sure, it does make me tired. When you have half the energy of normal, it doesn’t take much before you reach the end of your daily capacity. Come to think of it, although the fatigue that is directly related to the flare is part of the tired, it’s another thing that’s really kicking my arse and is related to the flare in a more convoluted way. See, the flare gives me painsomnia, the inability to sleep due to pain. Even when I can fall asleep I somehow tense up during the night and wake up in the kind of pain that can be described as Not Fun At All. So I take meds to help me sleep and un-tense. More specifically muscle relaxants called Flexeril. They’re quite wonderful at knocking me out and helping me wake up i